Nannorrhops
Encyclopedia
Nannorrhops ritchiana is the sole species in the genus Nannorrhops in the palm family Arecaceae
. It is native to southwestern Asia
, from the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula
east through Iran
and Afghanistan
to Pakistan
and northwestern India
, growing at altitudes of up to 1600 m.
It is a shrublike clumping palm, with several stems growing from a single base. The stems grow slowly and often tightly together, reaching 1-2 m or more tall. It is a fan palm (Arecaceae tribe Corypheae), with the leaves
with a long, smooth (unspined) petiole terminating in a rounded fan of 20-30 leaflets, 30-120 cm long, with a distinct glaucous blue-green to grey-green colour.
The flower
s are borne in tall, open clusters up to 3 m long at the top of the stems; it is usually dioecious
with male and female flowers on separate plants. The fruit
is a brown drupe
. The individual stems are monocarpic
, dying back to the ground after flowering, with the plant continuing growth from basal sprouts.
It is one of the hardier palms
, tolerating winter frosts down to about −12 °C (possibly even −20 °C), though it requires very hot summers for good growth. It is occasionally grown as an ornamental plant
in southern Europe and southern North America, but is not widely cultivated.
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
. It is native to southwestern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, from the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
east through Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and northwestern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, growing at altitudes of up to 1600 m.
It is a shrublike clumping palm, with several stems growing from a single base. The stems grow slowly and often tightly together, reaching 1-2 m or more tall. It is a fan palm (Arecaceae tribe Corypheae), with the leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
with a long, smooth (unspined) petiole terminating in a rounded fan of 20-30 leaflets, 30-120 cm long, with a distinct glaucous blue-green to grey-green colour.
The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are borne in tall, open clusters up to 3 m long at the top of the stems; it is usually dioecious
Plant sexuality
Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
with male and female flowers on separate plants. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is a brown drupe
Drupe
In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...
. The individual stems are monocarpic
Monocarpic
Monocarpic plants are those that flower, set seeds and then die. Other terms with the same meaning are hapaxanth and semelparous. The term was first used by Alphonse de Candolle....
, dying back to the ground after flowering, with the plant continuing growth from basal sprouts.
It is one of the hardier palms
Hardy palms
Hardy palms are any of the species of palm that are able to withstand colder temperatures and thrive in places not typically considered in the natural range for palms. Several are native to higher elevations in Asia and can tolerate hard freezes with little or no damage...
, tolerating winter frosts down to about −12 °C (possibly even −20 °C), though it requires very hot summers for good growth. It is occasionally grown as an ornamental plant
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
in southern Europe and southern North America, but is not widely cultivated.